Nota bene: I will resume my series of blog posts on Adam Smith’s 1784 pamphlet on Monday, 13 July.

On this day (10 July) in 1962, the world’s first telecom satellite, Telstar 1, was launched by NASA from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. According to Wikipedia (see here), Telstar 1 remained active for only 7 months before it prematurely failed due to Starfish Prime, a high-altitude nuclear test conducted by the United States.

Although Telstar 1 is no longer operational, it remains in Low-Earth Orbit. Today, by contrast, there are over 10,000 active communications satellites in orbit! (See here or here, for example.) This is one reason why I have proposed replacing the current system of granting launch licenses for free with outer space auctions or an orbit congestion fee. See also here.